1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus to actuate a door for opening/closing a discharging outlet of an air conditioner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, for the purpose of preventing dusts or foreign substances in the room from passing into the indoor unit of the conventional air conditioner during the standby state, the air conditioner is equipped with a discharging outlet door which enables a discharging outlet for discharge of air heat-exchanged by an evaporator to be closed. Namely, when a stop command signal is input during an operation of the air conditioner, or when the air conditioner is under the stand-by state after the operation of the air conditioner is completed, a relay employed for effecting the upward motion of the discharging outlet door under the control of a control unit is energized, thus allowing an AC door motor to be driven. Accordingly, an operation of the AC door motor moves the discharging outlet door in the upward direction to thereby close the discharging outlet.
Meanwhile, if an operation command signal is input during the stand-by state of the air conditioner, another relay employed for effecting a downward motion of the di s charging outlet door under the control of a control portion is energized, thus allowing the AC door motor to drive in a reverse direction. Accordingly, the AC door motor is operated to move the discharging outlet door in the downward direction to open the discharging outlet.
At this time, either an open ed state or a closed state of the discharging outlet is detected by means of photo-sensors, each being provided at a predetermined position around upper and lower portions of the discharging outlet, and the photo-sensor produces a door open/close signal. This signal is then applied to the control unit which determines whether the discharging outlet door is at the opened state or closed state, based upon the door open/close signal from the photo-sensor, while it also controls the normal operation or the standby state of the air conditioner.
However, there is a problem with the conventional apparatus employing the above described schemes, in that the AC door motor for moving up and down the discharging outlet door and relays for supplying the power to said AC door motor are expensive, and malfunction of the air-conditioner caused by moisture contained within the air conditioner having the AC door motor may occur.